Norway opens permanent Oslo memorial 15 years after Breivik’s deadly terror attacks

Norway has opened a permanent national memorial in Oslo nearly 15 years after far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik carried out the country’s deadliest peacetime attack, killing 77 people in 2011.

The memorial, titled “Upholding”, was unveiled ahead of the July 22 anniversary and marks the end of a long-running debate over how Norway should remember and represent the trauma of the twin terror attacks.

The monument is located in the newly rebuilt Government Quarter, in front of the H-Block building, where Breivik detonated a car bomb that killed eight people before carrying out a shooting massacre at a youth camp on Utøya island, where 69 people were killed.

A memorial built around remembrance

Designed by Norwegian artist Matias Faldbakken and commissioned by Public Art Norway, the memorial combines industrial design with symbols connected to the attacks.

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The structure features a large steel frame based on the engineering rig that was used to remove Pablo Picasso’s historic concrete mural “The Fishermen” from the nearby Y-Block building before it was demolished.

Inside the steel framework is a massive mosaic made up of around 300,000 individual stone tiles.

The artwork depicts a small wading bird surrounded by reeds and branches, inspired by the landscape around Lake Tyrifjorden near Utøya, where most of the victims of the shooting were killed.

Survivors and families help complete monument

The creation of the memorial was designed as a collective process involving survivors, relatives of victims and members of the public.

During a three-week workshop at the site, more than 2,000 people helped place the final 7,000 tiles into the mosaic.

The final stone was placed by Merete Stamneshagen, head of the National Support Group after July 22, who lost her daughter in the Utøya attack.

The new memorial replaces earlier controversial proposals, including the abandoned “Memory Wound” design, which suggested cutting a large gap through the landscape at Sørbråten.

Faldbakken’s design instead focuses on industrial strength, using the heavy steel structure as a symbol of the continued effort required to protect democracy from extremism.

At the inauguration ceremony, Digitalisation and Public Administration Minister Karianne Tung said the memorial would honour those killed, as well as survivors, families and everyone affected by the attacks.

She said the monument would stand as a reminder that “our democracy has been able to withstand even the most serious threat.”

The Oslo memorial joins the permanent mainland memorial at Utøyakaia, which opened in 2022, creating two public spaces dedicated to remembering the victims of the July 22 attacks and reflecting Norway’s continued fight against far-right extremism.